Thousands of onlookers line the banks of the Elbe on February 21, 1968. Colorful flags wave and typhoons hoot. The occasion is the launching of the first large passenger ship in Germany after the Second World War. Marie-Luise Kiesinger, the Chancellor's wife, christened the 100 million mark ship "Hamburg" with the words "I wish you always a happy journey". While the workers celebrate in the works canteen in the afternoon, prominent figures from politics, business and society meet in the hall of the Hotel Atlantic for the ceremony in the evening.
Cruises instead of scheduled services to New York
When the German Atlantic Line ordered the new ship a few years earlier, they urgently needed a new ship for their scheduled service to New York. Because in 1966 the legendary and popular predecessor, the "Hanseatic", burned out there. An Israeli ship that has been acquired in the meantime and that sails under the name "Hanseatic II" does not seem to be sufficient for the demand. But the new building comes too late. Liner shipping is no longer competitive on the North Atlantic route since airplanes have become larger and cheaper. That's why the "Hamburg" sails as a cruise ship right from the start.
Floating luxury hotel
The 195 meter long, snow-white luxury liner with the fine red stripe on the hull and the characteristic funnel, which keeps the decks free of soot in every wind direction, is powered by two AEG steam turbines that develop 23,000 hp engine power. Across twelve decks is a small town with every amenity for upscale passengers, from the theater to the sports center, from the nursery to the chapel.
A year after being launched, the "Hamburg" is put into service. In March 1969, she set off from Cuxhaven on her 35-day maiden voyage, which took 600 passengers via Dakar in Senegal to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. 60 cooks take care of the physical well-being of the guests around the clock. Among other things, the ship has loaded 21 tons of meat, 350 kilograms each of smoked eel and salmon and seven hundredweight of caviar. A glass of whiskey costs only 1.60 Deutschmarks at the bar and, unlike on land, twice the amount is served.
The oil crisis is going downhill
The "Hamburg" undertakes trips to the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, to California and Mexico. In 1971, passengers had to pay between 2,160 and 5,090 marks for a two-week trip to the Black Sea, and up to 7,970 marks for the Great West Africa Voyage - a luxury that not many could afford. Nevertheless, the ships are well booked. The "Hanseatic II" soon switched to the cruise business, but mostly offered cheaper short trips for 1,000 marks. But the popular ships were unable to stop the shipping company's economic decline caused by the weak dollar exchange rate and the 1973 oil crisis.
"Hamburg" becomes "Maxim Gorkiy"
When a merger with Hapag-Lloyd fails and the German Atlantic Line has to shut down its business operations, the "Hamburg" is sold to the Soviet state shipping company. The 300 crew members lose their jobs overnight. From January 1974 the ship sails as "Maxim Gorkiy", at the stern the red flag with hammer and sickle. The Soviet Union has long been involved in the international cruise business in order to make hard currency with cheap offers. For years, the ship went on cruises for the tour operator Neckermann + Reisen and remained very popular with German tourists. The thriller "18 Hours to Eternity" starring Omar Sharif is filmed in 1974 while crossing the Atlantic.
Collision in the sea of ice
In June 1989, the "Maxim Gorkiy" got caught in a drift ice field, collided with an iceberg and threatened to sink.A preferred tour takes the "Maxim Gorkiy" to Iceland and Norway. In June 1989, this almost became her undoing. 300 kilometers from Svalbard she collides with an iceberg and threatens to sink in the North Sea, but the ship is successfully evacuated. The passengers have to wait hours in the boats and on ice floes in freezing temperatures before the Norwegian Coast Guard rescues them with helicopters and boats. The ship can be towed to Spitsbergen and then sail under its own power to Bremerhaven, where it will be repaired at the Lloyd shipyard.
The Cold War ends on the ship
On December 3, 1989, George H. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev ended the Cold War on board the "Maxim Gorkiy".The "Maxim Gorkiy" became really famous in December 1989, a few days after the fall of the Wall. One of the most important American-Soviet summits since the end of the Second World War takes place in the port of Malta. For two days, George H. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev talk about political change in the GDR and Eastern Europe, about the Germans' right to self-determination and about disarmament. At the end of their negotiations, they declare the end of the Cold War and decide on a new cooperation between the superpowers.
Cruises to the South Seas
After the end of the Soviet Union, the "Maxim Gorkiy" was registered in Nassau in the Bahamas in 1991. In a charter trip for Phönix Reisen, she becomes one of the best-known cruise ships in Germany. Nordlandreisen continue to be a focus of the program, but she also cruises in the South Seas and off Singapore.
The ship is a frequent visitor to Hamburg and is regularly modernized by Blohm + Voss, and even has facilities for waste incineration and seawater desalination. But with the shipping and financial crisis, after 35 world trips and more than 1,000 cruises, the beautiful woman from Hamburg came to an end. Despite intensive efforts to bring the ship back to its former home port as a museum and hotel, it was scrapped on February 25, 2009 in Alang, India.